In the twilight of variety theatre, Tony Stuart, who has died aged 78 of broncho-pneumonia, was a familiar fixture on provincial bills. He was a dancer of what others in the business believed to be considerable talent. But although he appeared on the West End stage, featured in the television series about a home for the aged, Waiting For God, and even choreographed a Sadler's Wells opera, the really lucky breaks that he hoped would bring him stardom eluded him.

Donald Mills, who has died aged 84, was the last survivor of what was arguably the most successful vocal group of all time. The Mills Brothers were, though, always more than just that. Like the Andrews Sisters and their big rivals, the Ink Spots, they were a form of entertainment all on their own. They did their share of backing other artists, but when there was a new Mills Brothers disc to sell, it was greeted with the enthusiasm later to go to Elvis Presley, to say nothing of the Spice Girls.

The songwriter and lyricist George Forrest, who has died aged 84, had one particular claim to fame. He worked on about 2,000 songs for Broadway shows and Hollywood films, but it was his 1953 hit, Kismet, that earned the big accolade - an immortal phrase from Time magazine. The score, said the then anonymous writer, was "a borrowed din from Borodin".

Guy Mitchell, who has died at the age of 72, was a pop singer who happened at just the right time. It was in the early and mid-1950s that late buyers of 78rpm records discovered songs like She Wore Red Feathers and Singing The Blues. More importantly, they discovered the singer - a young, high-voiced performer, who you just knew had a fresh face and a neat haircut.

Being a warm-up man for Danny Kaye at the London Palladium wasn't the most enviable option for a performer -Kaye dominated audiences to such an extent that they were never interested in anyone else on the bill. But during his 1955 tour an immaculately dressed man with a distinct Spanish accent walked on and started talking to his own hand. The audience went wild. The next day, the London papers allowed themselves a paragraph in their reviews of Kaye for Senor Wences - the best ventriloquist in the business, who has died on his 103rd birthday.

Hollywood writers love to be thought of as iconoclasts in a world of idols. It was never less true than in the case of Garson Kanin, who has died at the age of 86. He was an icon to generations who followed him in his craft, truly a screenwriter's screenwriter.